The second stage produced winners among the GC riders but they won't get much chance to rest on their laurels. Another uphill finish looms on today's third stage and while it is not a day to gain time, it is important to stay careful to avoid any splits as gaps may open up in the tricky uphill sprint or in the crosswind sections. At the same time, the puncheurs and classics specialists have red-circled this stage as big opportunity to get their Vuelta off to a good start. Starting at 15.00 CEST you can follow all the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

The course

The sprinters will have to bide their time for another day as the riders continue their journey along the Galician coast. Once again the stage is mostly flat but like the previous one, the stage has a nasty sting in its tail. From the start in Vigo, the riders will follow the coast for almost the entire stage as they zig-zag their way up towards the north. In Dena, the peloton will finally leave the coast before heading back towards the seafront a little later.

Getting close to the finish in Vilanova de Arousa - where the race started on Saturday - the riders will twist and turn their way around the city - briefly crossing a bridge to get onto the island Illa de Arousa before turning around to head back to the mainland - but the roads will be dead-flat all the time. That will finally change when the riders leave Vilanova de Arousa to head into the hilly southern hinterland and the finish at the top of the category 3 Mirador de Lobeira (4,2km, 4,8%). The climb is steepest at it midpoint but levels out a bit in the final kilometre which is rather technical. The final 1,3km have  an average gradient of 3,8% but as the final kilometre kick off with a 6% section, the last part should be rather flat. The riders will have to negotiate two sweeping right-hand turns inside the final 210m that almost make them take a U-turn and any rider with winning ambitions has to be well-positioned at this crucial point. The finishing straight is only 150m long.

The weather

The riders have got their Vuelta off to a beautiful and pleasant start. This year there has been no baking heat but plenty of sunshine. That will also be the case for today's stage where 25-degree temperatures are expected and no one will be able to spot a single cloud on the sky.

The only fly in the  ointment is the strong wind which will be even stronger today than it was yesterday. This time it will come from a northeastern direction which means that the riders will generally have a cross-headwind when they head towards the finish in Vilanova de Arousa.

The uneven nature of the coast does, however, mean that there will be plenty of changes of direction and the riders will have plenty of stretches with crosswind. As the coastal roads should be rather exposed, everyone has to stay aware as the peloton could ver ywell split up. In the final part, the riders will circulate the area around the finish and head in all different directions with plenty of changes along the way. Especially the short trip to the island will be feared as the riders should have a crosswind on the bridge that leads onto it. The riders should have a headwind when they head to Vilanova de Arousa for the final time but will turn into a tailwind when they start the climb. That will be the case for most of the finale but the riders should get into a headwind when they make the final U-turn to get onto the 150m finishing straight.

The favourites

There are many uphill finishes in this year's Vuelta but this one is a unique one. This is the only stage finishing with a categorized climb that suits the puncheurs more than the climbers. The modest gradients and reduced length of the final ascent makes this one ideally suited to the resistant sprinters and Ardennes specialists.

With that type of riders having only few chances in this year's race, it is almost guaranteed to come down to a sprint. Numerous riders have red-circled this stage and as they are all part of teams which are here entirely to chase stage wins, they won't let this opportunity slip away. BMC, Orica-GreenEdge and Omega Pharma-Quick Step will take the responsibility for the chase. Of course, we will see an early breakaway but it should get clear rather early in the stage, everybody knowing that it is doomed. As there is also no KOM points on offer, there is very little incentive to race aggressively in the early part of the race.

Nonetheless, we could get a rather eventful stage. The strong wind and the many direction changes will make this stage extremely nervous. Throughout most of the stage, the GC riders have to stay careful. Whether the wind is strong enough to make a lasting difference is doubtful as crosswind attacks are usually most efficient when they are unexpected. That won't be the case today but look to Movistar, Sky, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Belkin, Saxo-Tinkoff or Radioshack to give it a try. If the wind doesn't produce any separation, a crash may do the damage as it happened to Valverde when Sky attacked in the crosswinds on stage 4 one year ago.

The entire bunch may not be present at the bottom of the final climb but nothing should prevent an uphill sprint between some of the best puncheurs in the business. Most of them are rather equal in such a finish and so it should be a close-fought battle between riders like Alejandro Valverde, Simon Gerrans, Philippe  Gilbert, Gianni Meersman, Edvald Boasson Hagen and Zdenek Stybar.

Our stage winner pick is Alejandro Valverde who appears to be in splendid condition at this moment and will be extremely eager to make up for yesterday's disappointment. He won the sprint for 5th with apparent ease but his team ran out of manpower when the attacks were launched in the final tailwind section. He should be able to avoid a similar scenario today as the team should be strong enough to control proceedings on the easier finishing climb. It's risky business for him to mix it up in a bunch sprint but he needs the 10 bonus seconds and so is likely to give it a try. He will only benefit from a hard pace as he is the strongest climber among the race favourites and we expect Movistar climbers Jose Herrada, Sylwester Szmyd and Javier Moreno to string out the peloton. The final sprint suits him and the technical sections shouldn't pose much of a problem either.

Simon Gerrans is here to prepare for the world championships and chase stage wins along the way. On paper this stage may be the best opportunity in the entire race. The uphill sprint suits him down to the ground and he only seems to have become faster with age. He is probably the only rider who can really match Valverde in this kind of sprint and he has a fantastic ability to pick out certain stages and take the win. That was what he did in the Volta a Catalunya, Vuelta al Pais Vasco and the Tour de France and he would be difficult to bet against him repeating that feat in the Vuelta. He has sprinted against Valverde twice since the Spaniard's comeback: in last year's Paris-Nice when Valverde took the win in a photo finish but when Gerrans only lost due to his bad position, and at the end of this year's Amstel Gold Race when Valverde once again emerged as the fastest in a photo finish. What makes Gerrans' odds a little bit uncertain arehis lack of recent racing and later targets. He hasn't raced since San Sebastian and with the world championships being his major goal, we would expect him to be some way shy of his best condition.

That shouldn't be the case for Gianni Meersman whose win in the Tour de l'Ain prologue proved that he has trained well for the Vuelta. He hopes to take his first ever grand tour win on the back of a hugely successful season where he has dominated the sprints in the Catalonia and Romandie and won the points jersey at the Dauphiné. Today's uphill sprint suits him well and he is a splendid climber as he has proved repeatedly during the season and in last year's Vuelta. However, Meersman is best suited to a hard stage that eliminates the fastest sprinters and finishes with a flat or slightly ascending sprint. Today's finish could be a little bit too hard for the Belgian but there is no doubt that he will give it a try.

World champion Philippe Gilbert only has 19 chances left to win a stage in the rainbow jersey and today's stage may be his best. Had this been the 2011 season, no one would have dared to bet against a Gilbert win in this kind of finish but the Belgian isn't the same riders as he was in his magic season. Indications are that he once again has come out of the Tour de France in good condition as he did it last year when he won two Vuelta stages and the world championships. He was riding well in the Eneco Tour and finished 2nd behind Demare in the uphill sprint on stage 2 and this harder finish should suit him better. He crashed out of the Dutch/Belgian race and for a long time, his participation in the Vuelta was uncertain. He is, however, rather optimistic about his recovery and has been riding well on the first two stages. If his knee allows him to be a protagonist, he will go all out in today's finish.

Edvald Boasson Hagen fractured his shoulder in the Tour de France but claims to be in good condition for the Vuelta. Today's finish should suit the powerful Norwegian well but the question is whether he is at his best. He was dropped in the team time trial and appeared to be suffering in yesterday's uphill finish. To beat riders like Valverde at the end of a hard climb like today's, he would probably need to be at his best and that doesn't seem to be the case. It would, however, not be wise to rule out a win for the Norwegian who beat Valverde in the sprint for 2nd at least year's world championships.

If Gerrans isn't up to the task yet, Orica-GreenEdge has another card to play. Michael Matthews is in fantastic condition as he proved in the Tour of Utah where he won two stages. What really underlined his current form was, however, his fantastic final stage breakaway where he momentarily dropped climber Francisco Mancebo on the HC climb Empire Pass and finished 11th at the end. He has won tough uphill sprint in past Tours Down Under (even though he missed the win on one occasion due to William Clarke's successful breakaway) and has the characteristics to do so again. The final climb could be a bit too hard for the young Australian but if Gerrans allows it, he will certainly give it a try.

Finally, we will point to two jokers. The rider who may spoil the party for the sprinters is Fabian Cancellara. The Swiss is here to prepare for the world championships but appears to be in good condition. With the worlds course being extremely hilly, he has lost plenty of weight and looks extremely skinny. His performance in the team time trial was no less than incredible and in this kind of finish, he is a danger man. Just recall how he split the peloton on stage 1 of last year's Tour de France when only Peter Sagan and Boasson Hagen could match his speed. Today may be a good chance for him to test his legs. Who will be able to reel in fabulous Fabian if he gets a small gap inside the final kilometre?

Our second joker is recent Eneco Tour stage winner Zdenek Stybar. The Czech is suited to these kind of uphill finishes, having already won in Cieszyn in the Tour de Pologne. On paper, one might think that the final climb is a little bit too hard for him but his resistance in the Ardennes a little more than a week ago suggests otherwise. Meersman is likely to be Omega Pharma-Quick Step's preferred sprinter today but Stybar will be ready to strike should the opportunity present itself.

CyclingQuotes' stage winner pick: Alejandro Valverde

Other winning candidates: Simon Gerrans, Gianni Meersman

Outsiders: Philippe Gilbert, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Michael Matthews

Jokers: Fabian Cancellara, Zdenek Stybar